Millions of people across the world rely on Ibuprofen and similar pain relieving medications everyday. These drugs are used to deal with a sore back, an aching knee, or even after a rough night on the town. Ibuprofen falls under the family of non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) that work by blocking the hormones known as prostaglandins. Blocking the prostaglandins makes the NSAID effective at treating inflammation but it also has the  potentially adverse effect of removing a protective barrier in the stomach lining. This lining requires the presence of prostaglandins to be effective and without it the person becomes susceptible to gastrointestinal problems, gastric bleeding, and ulcers. Recent news reports claim that these complications are responsible for the deaths of 2,500 people annually in the United Kingdom alone.

Other complications from Ibuprofen use include increasing the stress to the kidneys and may causing fluid retention.  Fluid retention has negative consequences for people with high blood pressure and those at risk for cardiovascular incidents/stroke. Yet another source of complication can arise from the blocking of prostaglandins for females who are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant. The hormone is needed for ovulation and to help the egg get implanted in the womb. Complications during labor and delivery have also been attributed to decreased presence of prostaglandins.

Not Necessarily the Death of Ibuprofen

While the aforementioned concerns are backed by hard science, it does signify the end of Ibuprofen or NSAID use. As with any medication, extended daily use may result in unwanted side effects. On the other hand, the occasional ache or fever may still respond safely and well to an NSAID. Many European doctors combine an Ibuprofen prescription with a medicine that protects the lining of the stomach. People with high risk for complications (ie existing heart problems, kidney failure, gastric distress) and those trying to conceive/currently pregnant may want to seek alternate forms of pain/inflammation relief. An informed patient can make wise choices and perhaps that is the best thing that can be taken from the latest information on Ibuprofen and NSAIDS. There is a potential risk, and yet the medication also has the potential to be beneficial with  no complications. As always,  do some homework, make educated choices, and involve your physician in your decision.

Some patients cannot take traditional statin medications to lower their cholesterol. This is because many people suffer from statin induced muscle pains. For these patients, new research from two Philidelphia area cardiologists reveals that over the counter dietary supplements may be and alternative. These supplements are readily available at health food stores and pharmacies.

The study was the first double-blind placebo- controlled trial to test the use of red yeast rice in patients who have a history of statin induced muscle pain and weakness. Half of the patients were given a 600 mg capsule of red yeast rice twice a day for six months and the other half of the participants were given the placebo. The patients who were given the red yeast rice capsules also participated in meetings every week for the first three months to learn about heart healthy nutrition, exercise and stress management.

The study found that people receiving the red yeast rice had a more significant drop in LDL, low density lipoprotein, cholesterol than those who received the placebo. The total cholesterol of those taking the red yeast rice also improved more than those taking the placebo. There was no difference in muscle pain scores, weight loss, high density lipoprotein, and liver or muscle enzymes between the two groups.

Over a Thousand Year History in China

Red Yeast Rice Extract has been a staple of Chinese medicine for more than a thousand years. It is made from a fungus that grows on rice. Compounds found in the red yeast rice slow cholesterol production in the liver. Because it is a supplement and is not regulated by the FDA, the medical community is slow to adopt it as an alternative treatment for patients who suffer from statin induced muscle pain and weakness. The study does show that there are natural alternative therapies for certain patients that need another form of treatment because they cannot tolerate statin treatment.

Many patients refuse stating treatment because of the significant side effects. Statins have revolutionized the way doctors can treat cardiac patients, but up to 15% of patients cannot continue their treatments because of muscle pain. Currently that is no agreement in the medical community as to how to treat these patients. It is troublesome for doctors with patients who have a history of heart attacks, strokes or bypass surgeries when the patients have to discontinue their statin usage. The use of red yeast rice is not for everyone, but it can be very helpful in lowering LDL cholesterol in patients who cannot take statin medications.

You know that coughing and sneezing spreads germs and contagious diseases and you also know that proper hand washing is essential to stopping the spread of these germs. Many people mistakenly believe that quickly flicking their hands under the water and drying them on their pants is proper hand washing. This is just not so.

Most people miss under their finger nails and in the cracks between fingers.  The viruses that cause cold and flu can also live on surfaces such as doorknobs. They can be spread from hand to hand in this way.

Proper hand washing can stop the spread of MRSA, cold, flu and other infectious diseases. It also prevents antibiotic resistance. People who work in medical settings need to wash their hands properly, but it does not stop there. This is something everyone needs to be doing even at home.

There are times when washing your hands is a necessity. These times are after you blow your nose, after food preparation and when they are visibly dirty. Hands should be washed more frequently when there is someone in the home that is ill.

Proper technique is to wet hands and then apply liquid or bar soap. Bar soap should be stored in a container with a drain on the bottom or it will have a colony of bacteria living underneath it. Next, lather up the soap and really scrub your hands. Scrub all the way up to the wrists, between fingers, under your finger nails and do not forget the area between your thumb and the top of the writs. Many people miss this area and bacteria are plentiful here.

Keep scrubbing for at least twenty seconds and then rinse well. Do not let all of that loosened bacteria remain on your hands, rinse very well. Dry your hands with a paper towel and then throw the paper towel away. Use a paper towel to turn off the faucets and open the bathroom door. It does no good to do all of that scrubbing if the person before you did not.

Your faucets, toilet handles and bathroom door handles should be cleaned daily to prevent MRSA infections. Keeping your bathroom clean is a big step in fighting MRSA and other infectious diseases.

Keeping yourself and your family healthy goes beyond good diet and exercise; you need to practice proper hygiene. It is an excellent idea to teach your entire family good hand washing. This is essential for young children and you should spend time teaching them the proper techniques. Take some time to learn this valuable skill today because it just might prevent a deadly infection.

So my Mom (Dar) shows up at my office to bring me information about something she talked a bit about a few days ago.  It’s a program called “Project New Hope” and they help Veterans and their families with a variety of things after wartime service.

I have to admit, when she first brought this up, I didn’t get it.  I guess I was picturing a steely-eyed Navy Seal getting lectured by his new pencil neck civilian boss.  I thought, he might not like it, but he’ll adapt to the new environment in no time… he doesn’t need a group like “Project New Hope” to help him make that change.  Yep, that’s how thick I can be.

Ma quickly let me know that every Veteran has his/her own set of circumstances.  She told me that 25% of all homeless are combat Veterans and the suicide rates for Veterans aged 20-24 are 4 times higher than civilians. 

She told me to imagine being an 18 year old kid working at McDonalds who gets activated with his local guard unit and spends almost 2 years in Iraq.  This kid is now a fulltime soldier with a real gun and real risk.  Eventually this soldier gets put in a squad leader position that requires him to make life and death decision for not only himself, but for others as well (that will make you grow up pretty quick).  Now at the age of 20 he’s back home and for some reason asking “would you like fries with that?” is much harder than before he left. 

“OK Ma, I’m starting to get it.”

She goes on to tell me that many of the casualties of war have never signed up for duty.  They are the wives, husbands, children and close family members that had to endure life while the soldier was away and then deal with the changes now that they’re home.

After Ma left I did a little googling on my own and found out that in 2005 Army researchers saw alcohol misuse rise from 13% to 21% one year after coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq.  Also Post-deployment reassessment data showed anger and aggression issues increase from 11% to 21 and those planning to divorce went from 9% to 15%.

Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill. said “We commit a serious disservice to veterans and their families if we only focus on the veteran with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” he said. “Congress must act to improve the Defense Department’s and (Department of) Veterans Affairs’ capacity to have a family-centered approach to treating it.”

Project New Hope does just that by offering whole family retreats that are designed to give the participants the help they need at the pace they want.  The retreats are completely free to the Veterans and their families and the staff is 100% volunteer.  On top of that, counselors are available 24/7.

I finally get it and I hope you do too.  If this is something you can get behind, please click here to learn more or send your tax deductible donation to Project New Hope, PO Box 174, Barnesville, MN 56514.

My Ma is a member of our local Lions group and they’ve teamed up with the American Legion and the VFW to host a day long fundraising event for Project New Hope.  It’s March 20^th in Barnesville, MN and will run from pancakes at 7am to Karaoke at 9pm.  Their goal is to raise $25,000.

Candida can cause brain fog, fatigue, a whole host of other illnesses and of course yeast infections.  A full 75% of women will develop a yeast infection (Candida albicans) in their lifetime and many women will battle this over and over again.  Now either these single celled yeasts got clever and unionized or something else is going on.

Normally Candida albicans lives harmlessly in perfect harmony with the rest of our intestinal flora, but like most things, we are our own worst enemy.  We set the stage by creating the right environment for Candida to flourish.  Overuse of antibiotics kill off good bacteria and make room for more yeast.  Yeast feeds on sugar and we help to the tune of 135 pounds per year… that’s over 5 times as much as we consumed 20 years ago.  Other factors like stress, poor digestion, alcohol and oral contraceptives all play a role in creating this yeast friendly environment.

So what can we do?

We can all start by limiting our sugar intake.  Add more fresh greens to your diet, which will replace some of the sugary foods and add some much needed fiber to help our digestive problems.  Take a good probiotic to replace some of that good bacteria like Dr. Ohhira’s 12 Plus Formula.  Limit fungi containing foods like corn and peanuts.  Find something that works for you to reduce stress… for one person it’s a walk on the beach and for the next person it’s joining an MMA gym and getting kicked in the head.  Get some sleep and get some exercise.

If you already have yeast problem, then you need to consider some further options.  Look into an anti-fungal diet.  Doug Kaufman from knowthecause.com (and the tv show) has a great diet program.  Look into anti-fungal supplements like olive leaf and oregano oil.  Our customers have had a lot of success with a product called Candex.  Candex is an enzyme formula that is designed to help breakdown and destroy the cellular wall of the yeast.  It’s currently our #4 best seller, which is saying something.

There are a lot of other natural alternative that we can get into later, but right now I feel like a salad.

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The Good

The new site is cleaner, faster and even more secure.  It will allow us to offer a greater level of functionality and service to you, like coupons for example…  yep, that’s how old the other shopping cart was. 

We’ve carried over features from the old site that customers loved, like the Pay-It-Forward program and we’ve made changes that were asked for… no one can miss the search box now, which brings me the Bad.

The Bad

The search functionality is just not there yet.  The old site was too picky and this site wants to show you just about everything.   We have a new search solution in the oven that will make finding the right products very very easy and it should be up and running in 2-3 weeks. 

We were not able to bring over everyone’s order history, so your Quick List items will not be available until orders are placed on the new site, which brings me to the Ugly.

 The Ugly

If you’ve tried to use your Quick List or Wish List, the site probably logged you out and you might have sworn at us (shame on you).  That also happens under a few other conditions, but it will be fixed by Friday.

For the first few days after the site was launched, it didn’t work for Mac users at all and the forgot password function was not sending emails… fixed and fixed.

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions, please keep the coming.

Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. It is produced in our skin when we are in sunlight and, in fact, we actually get very little of this vitamin from the food we eat. As a result, you might think that it is one of the last vitamins we should be worrying about when it comes to deficiencies of nutritional substances; however, a recent report shows that worldwide more and more people are suffering from low levels of this vitamin.

The consequences of deficiencies are significant. This particular vitamin works together with calcium and is important, not only for keeping our organs in peak condition, but also for the normal development and strength of bones. Low levels of the vitamin in adults can increase the risk of osteoporosis and hip fractures. In children, it can lead to rickets which is where the bones become soft and can fracture or even become deformed.

Deficiencies On The Increase Around The Globe

This recent research was undertaken by the expert working group of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and was published in Osteoporosis International. In the study, the group researched the incidence of deficiencies of the vitamin and the reasons for this problem in six regions; namely, North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and Oceania. The regional reports can be found on the website of the IOF.

The researchers found numerous reasons for deficiencies of the vitamin:

• Low levels are more commonplace in females, the elderly and those with dark-coloured skins.
• People living at lower latitudes and those experiencing the winter season are also more susceptible to deficiencies.
• Then there are the cultures where it is tradition to cover one’s skin for religious reasons or for protection against the sun’s rays.
• Our diets these days and the lack of added vitamins to our foods also cause problems.
• Furthermore, there is the change in lifestyle where people are moving from an outside way of life to cities where most activities and jobs are indoors.

Middle East and South Asia are the regions where the problem is greatest. In this instance a number of these factors are at play.

There are still no conclusions as to the exact amount of the vitamin that we require on a daily basis. Suggestions for the recommended blood level of the vitamin can be as little as 50nmol/L or as much as 150nmol/L. Whatever the optimal level, there are significant numbers of people worldwide who are not getting enough of this vital substance.

Given the importance of these findings, it is essential for this problem to be addressed. Programs need to include both safe exposure to sunlight, as well as dietary sources of the vitamin. This intervention needs to happen across the world and programs need to be implemented on a national scale for ultimate success.

Inflammation is a natural and necessary healing response produced by the body, but what role might it have in developing Alzheimer’s disease? Inflammation has been getting much attention as it is found to have many negative effects on the body and it is being deemed the culprit causing many diseases. Recent research by William Banks, MD may provide a “one-two punch in giving clues on how Alzheimer’s disease develops and could be treated.” It seems that increased accumulation of a protein in the brain causes detriment and results in the negative affects seen by the disease. This protein is usually present in the body and brain, but it can exit the brain and becomes absorbed by the blood stream. Because it leaves the brain, it does no damage and thus a person’s cognition and brain function remains unaffected. With the presence of inflammation, the pump that pushes this protein out does not function as is required. A broken pump means excessive protein build up and therefore more damage.

If Inflammation Is Decreased Does Alzheimer’s Disease Disappear?

According to the research, keeping inflammation at bay means that the protein pump works and thus the culprits causing Alzheimer’s can exit the brain. William Banks feels that anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to help prevent the development of the disease. He further “supports using indomethacin, an anti-inflammatory medication, as a buffer to protect LRP from being turned off.” The LRP is the pump that shuts down and allows the build of excess protein. Research performed on rats showed that they had challenges with memory and learning as the protein build up increased. They responded to the indomethacin medication and were able to flush out the brain of excess proteins. This research provides some hope for patients and doctors. Anti-inflammatory drugs are to be considered when exploring treatments for this disease.

Saint Louis University. “Inflammation May Trigger Alzheimer’s Disease.” ScienceDaily 9 July 2009. 21 July 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090708181204.htm>.

The benefits of breastfeeding are well known but recent research has provided further information on how mother’s milk can promote healthy newborns. This comes in the form of the discovery of an ingredient in breast milk which protects and repairs any damage to the digestive tract of newborns.

This function is very important as a baby’s intestines are extremely delicate. They have not yet been introduced to food and drink; therefore it doesn’t take much to injure them and precautions are paramount.

Substance In Breast Milk Protects Intestines

This special protective ingredient in breast milk is pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor, or PSTI. As the name suggests, it is typically found in the pancreas. The function of the pancreas is to produce powerful enzymes for use in digestion. In the process, the pancreas itself needs protection against these enzymes and this is the function of PSTI. It therefore makes sense that the inhibitor can also be used in the digestive system to prevent unnecessary harm and to keep it healthy.

The research into PSTI and breast milk was led by Professor Ray Playford of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, part of Queen Mary, University of London. The team found that PSTI is present in all breast milk, but that the levels are seven times higher in colostrum – which is the name given to the breast milk that is secreted during the first couple of days after birth. In fact, it has been found that PSTI is actually produced in the breast. What is significant though is that formula milk does not contain this vital ingredient.

During the study the team performed tests with PSTI on human intestinal cells. When they damaged the cells, they found that the PSTI triggered healthy cells to move over the cells that had been harmed, thereby forming a natural protective layer. Furthermore, the study showed that the PSTI prevents intestinal cells from breaking down and has the potential to reduce injury by 75 percent. These results indicate the phenomenal ability of PSTI to prevent any serious intestinal injuries in newborns.

So, this is another way in which breast milk is important for the health of babies. Formula simply cannot meet all of the requirements and babies who are not breast fed will be at a serious disadvantage. There seem to be no doubts of the importance of breast milk, particularly during the first few days after the baby has been born.

For years the military has been at the fore-front of experiments using humans and their recent tests on hydration are following suit. The April 2009 study examined volunteers in a laboratory “under varying conditions of work intensity and duration, environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, and types of clothing.” Some of these variable were chosen in order to better refine, and perhaps replace, the formula that has been used since 1982 to determine sweat rate and water needs. Water accounts for a large percentage of the military’s cost when sending soldiers overseas. They must take into account it’s price, storage, piping, distribution, sourcing, etc so honing in on the needs is paramount to a successful mission. This new formula shows promise at being more accurate and allows for water needs to be estimated for a person working 8 hours vs the old standard of 2 hours. Technology has brought about changes in clothing that helps soldiers with temperature regulation and thus changes their sweat rate and the amount of water they need to stay hydrated. Early indicators show the new formula to be accurate and reproducible so it may taken into the field for further testing. The researchers do note that the formula may be made more exact by including a variable of the subject’s fitness level. People with varying fitness levels also have varying hydration needs.

Hydration For Weekend Warriors?

As it stands now, the calculations and measurements are too complex for the general public to be able to use when determining adequate hydration for themselves.  The researchers note that “It contains many variables, reflecting the complexity of predicting sweat loss, such as skin temperature and amount of energy expended.” The hope is to develop formulas or metrics so that the public does have access to a workable formula. Ideally this  information may be used when a disaster strikes and hydration needs are being assessed, as well as when relief efforts or public projects are being undertaken. Given the importance of hydration and its ability to affect performance and to maintain life, the efforts of these researchers needs to be applauded and their updates should be kept on the radar.

Richard R. Gonzalez, Samuel N. Cheuvront, Scott J. Montain, Daniel A. Goodman, Laurie A. Blanchard, Larry G. Berglund, and Michael N. Sawka. EXPANDED PREDICTION EQUATIONS OF HUMAN SWEAT LOSS AND WATER NEEDS. Journal of Applied Physiology April 30, 2009.